Python’s Flake8

Python linting tool that checks Python code for style and syntax errors

Flake8 is a Python linting tool that checks Python code for style and syntax errors. It is named after the three tools that it combines: pyflakes, which checks for syntax errors and undefined names; pycodestyle (formerly known as pep8), which checks for style errors; and mccabe, which checks for code complexity.

To use Flake8, you will need to install it using pip, the Python package manager. Here's how you can install Flake8:

pip install flake8

Once you have installed Flake8, you can use it to check the style and syntax of your Python code by running the flake8 command followed by the name of the file or directory you want to check:

flake8 my_file.py

Flake8 will then scan the specified file or directory and report any style or syntax errors it finds. For example, if you have a Python file with the following code:

def greet(name):
  print("Hello, " + name)

greet("Alice")

Running flake8 on this file will produce the following output:

my_file.py:2:9: E225 missing whitespace around operator
my_file.py:2:10: E231 missing whitespace after ','

This output shows that Flake8 has found two style errors in the file: one for missing whitespace around the + operator on line 2, and one for missing whitespace after the , on line 2.

Flake8 can be configured to ignore certain errors or to enforce additional style rules by using a configuration file or command-line options. You can learn more about Flake8 and how to use it by reading the documentation at https://flake8.pycqa.org/en/latest/.

More content at PlainEnglish.io.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Discord.

Looking to scale your software startup? Check out Circuit.